Optimizing Mindfulness and Acceptance Based Behavioral Treatment for Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder

The current study will use a full factorial design to identify the independent and combined effects of four core MABT components when combined with standard behavioral treatment for BN and BED. The primary aim of the study will be to evaluate the independent efficacy of Mindful Awareness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Modulation, and Values-Based Decision Making on eating pathology (at posttreatment and at 6 and 12-month follow-ups). Secondary aims will be (1) to test target engagement of each MABT component, i.e., to confirm that each treatment component impacts both the variable which it targets and self-regulation and that improvements in these are associated with improvements in outcomes and (2) to test the hypotheses that the efficacy of each component is moderated by related baseline deficits in self-regulation (e.g. individuals with worse distress tolerance at baseline are most likely to benefit from conditions that include the Distress Tolerance component). A final exploratory aim will be to quantify the component interaction effects, which may be partially additive (because components overlap and/or there is diminishing return), fully additive, or synergistic (in that components may partially depend on each other).